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People who commit suicide tend to have shorter telomeres and excess mitochondrial DNA. While these changes are not likely to be responsible for them committing suicide, they instead could serve as a biomarker for risk of suicide.

The history of the field of microbiology may not be as long as other scientific areas, but it's just as interesting. After 100 years in print the Journal of Bacteriology is taking, what you might say, a walk down memory lane. It's highlighting the top 100 historical papers over the last century in its "Classic Spotlight" series. 

Mike (The Health Stranger) Adams has displayed some strange behavior in his time. Wait til you read about this one.

Flight operations for the F-35 fighter jet were suspended until further notice due to multiple episodes of apparent oxygen deprivation to pilots. Aviation physiology is quite complex. Here's the impact of hypoxia, gravitational forces and altitude.

As essential to scientific research as beakers, the sequence of an organism's genome is a staple in today's world of scientific experimentation. That means the sequencing and publication of more than 1,000 new bacterial genomes is akin to "making it rain" in the microbiology-research community. 

Dads matter — according to science — and not just because they play a big role in your existence. Here's a little scoop on how dads help our mental and behavioral health!
 

There's been enough devastation on the street caused by fentanyl replacing heroin. Now there's a new twist to the story: Fentanyl, with or without other drugs, is showing up in the form of copycats of Vicodin and Percoset. They're coming from Mexico, manufactured by cartels, which have reportedly produced overdoses and deaths. 

Plants produce pesticides to keep insects and other herbivores away. When we eat fruits and vegetables, we eat those pesticides, too. In fact, nearly all of the pesticides we consume in our diet are produced by the plants themselves. 

When the recent publication of a paper in Nature Methods claimed that using the CRISPR-Cas9 technique may cause unexpected mutations to occur, you might say that produced a collective gasp in the scientific community. But those who discovered CRISPR-Cas9 are not taking this criticism lightly – and they're fighting back.

Excessive ice stalls a climate change expedition, the merits of a pillow-based exercise regimen ... and more news that's a bit, shall we say ... loonie.

Yemen's cholera outbreak is hitting epic proportions, with over 100,000 cases currently reported. And with more than 14 million people lacking access to clean water and sanitation, the beleaguered country is at the beginning of what some are predicting to be a complete collapse. 

Though pneumonia and infection are among the litany of known complications after water birth, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) just reported two cases of Legionnaires’ Disease in newborns in Arizona born this way. Further investigation identified an infant death in 2014 in Texas from Legionellosis. 

Columbia University Professor Jeffrey Sachs is one of the world's most influential public intellectuals. His war against global poverty is commendable, if not always congenial. His expertise is rightly sought by national and international media outlets.

People with type 2 diabetes who are not using insulin, are typically instructed to monitor their blood glucose levels regularly. But a new study suggests that doing so may not provide any long-term benefits for controlling those levels. This could be the end of what has been the standard of care for these patients.

Edgar Allan Poe had a fascinating but strange mind, and perhaps he wasn't truly mad to think a raven was after him. Turns out, if you wrong a raven, it will shun you... Forevermore.

Summer campfires are fun; even more fun when you can roast some delicious marshmallows! But roasting the perfect marshmallow takes a bit of skill, and a whole lotta patience!

Multiplying an estimate with another estimate leaves you with imprecise information, no matter what the number. And naturally, using those imprecise numbers to drive policy is a bad idea. It's time to recognize that.

Diagnosis and treatment are linked. A new study sheds light on how improvements in one inform the other, or in other words, their dance of accommodation. 

If we want the Environmental Protection Agency to protect Americans from true health hazards, it needs to be reformed so it stops inventing health scares.

ACSH President Hank Campbell gives a bootcamp on biotech to science communicators, the EPA would prefer not to have awkward questions asked, and more outreach this past week.

Science media is fractured. But other tribes, like environmental activists, have clearly been successful and have put aside their differences and flourished by working together. What separates them from us? 

There's been a significant decrease in the number of American adults who use tanning beds, according to results of a recent study. By analyzing voluminous survey data, researchers concluded that indoor tanning plunged 33 percent from 2010 to 2015. 

One way to motivate people to exercise is for them to get a dog. After all, unless you live in the outback and let the animal run free, having a dog means walking it — except in a few circumstances. Australian investigators described the owner- and pup-associated reasons for a person to increase their walking level.
 

Good news for everyone who writes science: Alan Alda is as terrified as the rest of us about getting it wrong.

The annual World Science Festival was held last weekend in NYC and we were lucky enough to attend some of the events. One of the highlights was a panel conversation moderated by Carl Zimmer, talking to scientists about science and discussing the most pressing issues for today's scientific community.